


Separation Anxiety

by RileyBleu (orphan_account)



Series: Dork Squad Drabbles [5]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Arkham Asylum, Batman Being Generally Cool, Character Study, Codependency, Crow fucks up but that has yet to be explored, Crow murders some guys, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Jonathan Crane Character Study, M/M, Nervous breakdowns, Scarecrow Character Study, Whump, even Batman is fed up, for once, is very irresponsible and have no idea what they're doing, lesson: do not separate at all costs, like almost entirely hurt whump, the title is underplaying it, they deserved it tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-09 21:48:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11677740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/RileyBleu
Summary: "Jonathan Crane and the Scarecrow appear to have developed a codependent relationship, to the point where they become increasingly agitated if separated. While together, they are incredibly docile unless provoked. Until more upgraded restraints arrive, they are not to be separated under any circumstance. Any further testing will be delayed."





	Separation Anxiety

Jonathan and Crow hated this asylum for many reasons, but the most prominent being that it seemed to think they needed to be separated whenever they came in. That was the opposite of the truth, and you’d think that by this point they’d have learned their lesson, but no. The opposite, in fact. Every time Jon and Crow were tossed into the twisted birdhouse, the guards and orderlies would immediately separate them. This had caused more than a few injuries to guards from a very perturbed Crow, but the asylum seemed to think it best. Then came the day when they finally learned to give up.

It had begun like normal- he and Crow had been doing something and the Bat had swooped in to stop it and toss them back on the nuthouse, but when they were pushed in and the Bat disappeared, they were immediately assaulted. Crow didn’t even have time to react before Jonathan was yanked away from him, and he was restrained and muzzled- much to his loud complaint- and then sedated. Jonathan wasn’t even given a sedation, he was just thrown in a cell and left. He shuddered, the effects of his only mechanism of grounding himself being gone already kicking in. He fell into the corner and curled up, shaking violently. Everything around him was static, the sound drowning him. He whimpered quietly as he froze up, eyes glazing over and becoming dead to the world.

Meanwhile, Crow thrashed in the padded Solitary Confinement room, trying to get out of his restraints. They had made the straitjacket stronger, but he still managed to rip through it with his claws. He immediately ripped off the muzzle and roared. His vision was pure red, only thinking about the man he craved, he needed. He looked at the door, then at the padding around him. He really didn’t want to dig through the walls again, so door it was. He stalked over to it right as the speaker on one of the hidden cameras sounded, “Scarecrow, return to the middle of the room. Do not appro-” The voice was cut off by Crow breaking the camera. Then he slid his claws against the door before kicking it in, denting it. A few more adrenaline-fueled kicks caused the door to fly off it’s hinges and across the hall, slamming into the Joker’s cell door opposite to him. Crow immediately started down the hall while Joker meandered his way to the broken doorway, looked around, then shrugged and walked out and down the opposite way- asking Crow to help him out with his arms would probably result in being tossed down the hall like a doll again, and he could probably just ask Harley or find a knife.

Edward Nygma sat up from his cot- who the hell was wandering around the asylum at, what, 2 in the morning?- to Jonathan being roughly thrown into the cell, Crow absent. Edward sighed, “Not again.” He watched Jonathan crumple into the corner, knowing he wouldn’t be able to do anything to help him. Edward twisted his mouth. There had to be SOME way to stop this from happening every damn time the Bat tossed those two in here… He heard a faraway snarl, followed by a pained scream. He got up. There was something he could do.

Crow growled as he crawled on the ceiling down the hall. The smarter guards were the only ones you had to worry about, and most of them ran when he turned the corner. They were only bugs in his way. He swatted another stupid guard into a wall, hearing a crack. They didn’t matter. Jonathan mattered. He heard a scream, but it sounded so distant. Another form appeared in the haze. “...Crow… Alright… In there…” He could make out some of the words, and the voice was so familiar, but he could smell Jon now. He was so close. He made to push past the blur, but a hand grabbed his arm and he reacted, grabbing the body and throwing it as far as he could. The familiar voice screamed and he heard a distant crack, and another voice whisper “He really is a monster…” but he paid them no mind, instead turning to walk into the room where his long-awaited prize sat, trembling and in need of him. Crow’s vision cleared once he looked at Jonathan, crouching down and roughly grabbing the man’s face to turn it, looking him right in the eye. “ **I’m back.** ” He said, and that was all that was needed. Jonathan was shaking violently in fear, tears brimming in his eyes, but he latched onto Crow like he was a lifeline- and he was, because as much as he hated him, he loved him, needed him just as much, and above all else, he knew that Crow felt the same. The arms wrapped around him and the soft, ragged breaths against his neck were proof enough.

…

**Dr. Leland, Log Number [REDACTED]**

_Update on the file of Jonathan Crane and Scarecrow. They, upon further tests, have shown to be very codependent, to the point that they get incredibly distressed if they are in separate rooms without their consent. Guards attempted to separate the two and put them in independent cells, which apparently caused Dr. Crane to go into a withdrawal-like state and become unresponsive, and Scarecrow to fly into a murderous rampage, killing/maiming 40 guards and injuring 7 inmates, including the Joker, Killer Croc, and Riddler, who Scarecrow was thought to be on good terms with. Once Scarecrow had found Crane, reports say he simply sat with him for hours and did not let anyone near the man, including Batman, who took one look at them and reprimanded the nearest doctor, saying “They’re not supposed to be separated at any and all costs.” I have yet to fully understand what the implications of this are, but for now, Scarecrow and Jonathan Crane are to be kept within each other’s line of sight constantly. No further tests or independent therapy will be given to them at this time._

**Author's Note:**

> Crow is usually pretty chill unless you try to touch one of his boys. Then you won't be able to touch anything ever again.
> 
> A bit of insight to Jonathan's reaction- he uses Crow as a grounding mechanism, and Crow does a similar thing. They keep each other relatively calm and productive- disrupting this causes bad things. Really bad things. This is explained a bit more in Jonathan's backstory, which is further down in this series. If it's still a bit confusing, you can ask me questions on my tumblr, which is plugged in my bio.


End file.
